Shanghai reopening: half-open restaurants and retail stores mar city’s pledge to return to 100 per cent normality by June 30
- A total of 47 community infections were found since June 1, forcing 40 residential compounds to be reclassified as “medium-risk” zones
- That confined more than 100,000 residents to their homes for 14 days, with even close contacts being subjected to two-day lockdowns
Many of Shanghai’s restaurants and retail stores remain closed amid sporadic lockdowns to deal with a Covid-19 outbreak that refuses to abate, marring authorities’ vows to return China’s commercial hub to full normalcy by June 30.
A total of 47 community infections were found across the city of 25 million residents in the two weeks since June 1, when a two-month citywide lockdown formally ended.
That caused 40 housing compounds to be reclassified as “medium risk” zones, forcing more than 100,000 residents to be confined to their homes for 14 days. Even close contacts of infected residents had to be subjected to two-day lockdowns.
That has crimped the daily receipt at the Suiyi Restaunat in the Pudong district to 3,000 yuan (US$447) this week, merely one-third of the average takings in March before authorities locked the entire city down to keep the Covid-19 disease at bay.
“The biggest [problem] is there is no clear-cut time frame given” for the entire city to completely reopen, said the eatery’s owner Wang Xuliang. “Dining in is still barred because a community infection was spotted in our subdistrict last week, [so] local officials are unlikely to lift the restrictions any time soon.”